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Los Angeles, October 29,
2007
Owned and managed by the City of Dallas, the Morton H. Meyerson
Symphony Center is home to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and plays
host to other musical ensembles/events as well as various corporate
meetings, religious services and other events.
Called “One of the greatest concert halls in the
world,”
the large, complex, open-space hall boasts unsurpassed and elaborate
acoustic accommodations. The lighting system on the other hand was
essentially “cobbled together” over the last 15
years,
Meyerson had welcomed a succession of lighting consoles and other
technology until Vari-Lite installed a large system, and they kept
“building on top of what was there,” reflects Peter
Maurelli of Barbizon Light of the Rockies, who sold Meyerson a grandMA
lighting console, distributed by A.C.T. Lighting. “Our
goal,” he says, “was to not only put the grandMA
in, but to
improve the network infrastructure and build backbone they could rely
on for a long time.”
Says Maurelli: “The grandMA is enjoying wide popularity in
all
sectors of the market. It’s a great console. It does more
than
most people anticipate and has what everyone needs. House technicians
and staff,” he continues, “may not come from a huge
moving
light background and may have limited programming knowledge.
They’re looking for ease, convenience and flexibility. As a
salesperson and integrator, I’m comfortable recommending it
because I know it will offer the features I need.”
When the Meyerson staff realized they were in desperate need of a
state-of-the-art console, they wrote a spec to incorporate the grandMA.
The unit would be integral to their system.
Meyerson lighting technician Ed Schmitt recalls: “When we
opened
our doors in 1989, we ran modified Colortran dimmers, the first of
their kind. At the time,” he explains, “it was a
revolutionary install. We’d moved through many other control
systems until in ’97 when the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, our
primary tenant, decided to embark upon TV production, so they sunk a
lot of money into lighting trusses, moving lights and Sensor packs for
the facility. At first they didn’t think anyone else was
going to
use this equipment but then other arts groups wanted to utilize the
VL’s, so we hobbled along for many years controlling movers
with
a console that was not particularly user-friendly for moving
lights.” Eventually the Meyerson stage operations staff had
to
get serious about a replacement console. Bottom line: Everything was
getting overworked.
Says technical director Lamar Livingston: “We’d
looked at
various consoles. Then we started a conversation with the sales team at
Gemini Stage Lighting, who got us interested in the grandMA.”
They’d done a lot of research, interviewed a lot of road
designers as to what they’d use, and also asked their concert
production staff about the advantages of using the grandMA. After we
settled on the grandMA it became evident that we also needed to update
our cable plant with an integrated network solution to match the
proposed new control capabilities.
Meyerson lighting technician Chris Head claims that their hectic
schedule “spawns a vicious turnaround. Rehearsal often ends
at
5:00PM and then we have to be ready at 7:30PM for another group who is
taking the stage. We needed something we could move on the fly, to be
able to grab a console and run. Now, with grandMA and our newly
integrated network designed by Barbizon, the hall is a lot more a la
carte than ever.”
Head cites another “cool selling point: We’d wanted
3D
visualizing software, and the grandMA is already set up for that.. The
concert hall is constantly booked with rehearsals. With the 3D
visualizer we can get things done in advance with no dark time.
We’re really loving it,” he beams.
“There’s
great flexibility in being able to customize user profiles. In
addition, I can see a difference in the fluid movement of the lights,
and the effects generation capability has allowed us to create looks
that are amazing.”
“And best of all,” remarks Head, “we can
collaborate. And that’s really nice!”
MA Lighting is
exclusively distributed by A.C.T Lighting.
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T
Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge
products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company
provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its
clients.
For more information call 818-707-0884.
Copyright © ACT Lighting 2009. All rights reserved.
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